Out of Site at Lincoln Center

As I'd already had a very long day, I didn't stay around for Hidden Forests by Elaine Summers Dance, but I enjoyed most of 60's Snapshots, the program of Sixties-referencing dances by Gus Solomons jr (Random Funny Walks), Merián Soto (What is Love?), Yoshiko Chuma (RED CARPET 1967- ) and Summers at Lincoln Center Out of Doors at the South Plaza.

Solomons's male sextet--dressed in slouchy, hooded costumes in colors that made them evoke, in a purely abstract way, the entire produce section at Whole Foods--bounced around in nifty, diverting patterns amid the park trees and walkways to the music of Frank Zappa. The performers were Bryan Campbell, Andrew Griffin, Silas Riener, Saeed Siamak, Sydney Skybetter and Nick Strafaccia--dancing fools, indeed. Kudos to Oana Botez-Ban for the costumes and to Solomons for remembering that Zappa was a mad genius. Why don't more choreographers raid that treasure house of clever, delirious music?

Soto's What is Love? continues her "dances with branches"--deep, slow, meditative explorations. Her company of collaborating dancers--Danielle Kinne, Megan Mazarick, Shavon Norris, Jumatatu Poe and Olive Prince--is now renamed Merián Soto/Performance Practice. The ensemble, dressed in iconic Sixties hippie-wear, performed atop a platform under warm lighting that gave them--and the bare tree branches they carried, tilted and balanced--a poetic, Butoh-like cast. Soto draws sensitive viewers into a peaceful grove of awareness where time stretches into infinity.

Chuma's runway retrospective--danced up and down a long, red mat--seemed too insular and self-referential to connect with the actual site in a specific, meaningful and resonant way.

Lincoln Center Out of Doors continues this weekend with more interesting shows, including two afternoon-long La Casita gatherings--"a beloved little house, a city garden where poets and bards celebrate las palabras, the words"--on Saturday, August 25 and Sunday, August 26. Hey, don't you dare forget to celebrate my birthday on Sunday! And maybe I'll see you on Monday night for the grand finale in Damrosch Park--La India!